


Mirrored Experiences

by Just_Another_Day



Series: A Debt Repaid, with Interest [2]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Angst, Companion Piece, M/M, Manipulation, Post-Canon, Slavery, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-28 20:36:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18763747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Another_Day/pseuds/Just_Another_Day
Summary: Kallias didn't really expect to survive it when Kastor was overthrown as King. He didn't expect a lot of things.





	Mirrored Experiences

**Author's Note:**

> When I first tried to write what eventually became [A Debt Repaid, with Interest](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18718693) a while ago, I initially started it as a Kallias PoV fic before realising that the story was better told through Nikandros's eyes. But I figured I might as well polish what I'd written into its own little companion story for anyone who was interested. Fair warning: this won't really make sense without having read the original fic.

The arrival of Veretians in Ios was never a good thing, Kallias had figured out. 

The first influx of them had been the guards who Kastor had smuggled inside the walls of the palace. At least then, Kallias had managed to overhear the whispered plans against Prince Damianos and his household before they'd been enacted, and so had been able to do _something_ (the most important thing, as far as he was concerned) to minimise the damage in advance. The second time, Kallias had no opportunity to act, for he'd been entirely unaware of their new guests until he was called upon to entertain the Veretian nobility, including the Regent of Vere himself, at dinner. Kastor might not have seemed disturbed to have a foreign ruler sitting as his equal in a palace where the Akielons were now suddenly outnumbered, but Kallias had suspected it didn't bode well. But even if Kallias had been capable of doing anything, it was rather too late once they were already in place. And then the rest of the Veretians had arrived, and everything had finally gone the rest of the way to hell.

Kallias had been sequestered away with the other slaves even before the trial of the Prince of Vere was to be held. However, news of what was going on elsewhere in the palace reached Kallias's ears even in his isolation. The guards circulating the palace had loose tongues, after all (not to mention quickly-shifting allegiances when necessary, it seemed). So Kallias was well aware by now that Damianos Exalted had returned, triumphant but now injured, and that the King (the False King, people loudly proclaimed now, as if most of them hadn't followed him willingly enough as long as he'd still lived) had been killed.

Kallias knew all too well what had happened to the slaves of Prince Damianos when Kastor had removed his brother from his position. There was no certainty that Damianos wouldn't do the same thing now, whether it was in revenge or just to rid the palace of any remnants of Kastor's rule. Especially if he had any inkling that the slaves may have known anything about the coup before it occurred, as Kallias himself certainly had. The likelihood that Kallias's life may be in danger was high.

Kallias considered running. But even if he could miraculously make it out of a palace that must surely be currently packed with suspicious soldiers without being caught, where would he even go? The gold looped around his neck and wrists was a proclamation that he shouldn't be travelling the countryside alone, for one thing, so no one who he might encounter would help him or hesitate to report him. And there was only one place Kallias would _want_ to go anyway.

Damianos Exalted had been sent with the other slaves to Vere to serve the Prince. And now both the Prince and Damianos Exalted were here in Ios. Kallias couldn't leave without knowing whether the rest of the slaves had accompanied them as well, or at least without finding out what had become of them. Of _him_. 

Because the only place Kallias wanted to be was wherever Erasmus was. 

So when someone finally came to see to Kastor's slaves, Kallias was kneeling in what he knew was perfect form. His head was inclined the same as the other slaves to either side of him. But where the others probably had their eyes firmly on the stone floor, Kallias was taking in the men who entered the room with wary eyes. 

The guards entered first. For a moment Kallias thought that he'd been right to worry; that this was to be a swift and violent re-enactment of how Kastor's guards would have dealt with Damianos's slaves. But the guards paid Kallias and the other slaves almost no mind at all, instead seeming to check the corners of the room for lurking signs of danger the way Kallias had seen Kastor's guards do for him as he moved from room to room. Clearly the guards weren't there for the slaves, then, but rather to protect whoever they were accompanying. Kallias forced the tension out of his body, and allowed himself to breathe again.

The final man who entered the slave quarters was actually someone Kallias recognised from months ago, when he'd come to the palace along with all the other kyroi. He had technically sworn allegiance to Kallias's master then. But Kallias had noticed how he'd barely bent his back while doing so. And then later Kallias had actually met him briefly. Kallias had momentarily feared for his life back then just as he had today. It was clear to Kallias that the Kyros was no real friend of the new King, so he was fairly certain the Kyros wouldn't have permission to be alone in the royal wing. Kallias had wondered whether he'd just stumbled upon evidence of yet another assassination attempt, though this time against Kastor rather than engineered by him. It would have been so simple to get rid of Kallias as a witness if that were the case. But against the odds, Kallias had been left unharmed then. So he had reason to feel some growing hope that the same would happen now. 

Though Kallias hated leaving things up to faith like that.

Kallias had doubted that the Kyros would remember that it had been Kallias in particular that he'd seen during that encounter. No one ever paid that much attention to a slave; not _that_ kind of attention, anyway. But now Nikandros of Delpha moved immediately towards Kallias with what Kallias was certain (or as certain as his furtive glances upwards could allow) was recognition in his eyes. 

There was no weapon in his hand, ready to strike Kallias down. Nor was his voice harsh or accusatory when he asked Kallias, "What's your name?" If anything, it almost seemed kind.

Well then. No wonder he'd left Kallias alive the first time.

Kindness could be exploited. Kallias had learned that lesson very well in recent months.

*

He'd learned it too well, it seemed.

Weeks later, Kallias regretted ever having such a thought.

The hurt in Nikandros's eyes reminded him of how Erasmus had looked at Kallias when he'd had Erasmus disgraced and sent away.

And, strangely, seeing Nikandros's reaction hurt Kallias in turn almost as much as Erasmus's confused betrayal had.

Kallias hadn't meant to care like that. But Nikandros made it impossible not to.


End file.
